Chapter 77: Dungeon Dive, part 6

Alcar cleared his throat, and then spoke the words:

“Parohk al duphinoise!”

The five adventurers stood at the edge of the tunnel, Olynka holding Brutus by the collar, and watched as Etienne threw the enchanted lantern, the rope tied firmly to its handle. Just as the pebble had drifted slowly down into the lava-filled valley, the lantern now drifted down little faster than a feather falling, rather than plummeting towards the rock below as it would otherwise have done.

Alcar also found that as he focused, he could direct the lantern’s movement a little, though this became more difficult as it got further away. Aware that it needed to cross some unseen hazards below, he tried to force it onwards with its mind, diagonally across and down. Leppie turned the winch as it went, letting out more and more rope.

As it went, the lantern lit up the area below, showing the cavern ahead to be as vast as Alcar had assumed – or perhaps even more so. The companions could now see a rocky ravine filled with sharp, glittering stalagmites, as well as jagged outcrops of rock on both sides. Ahead, in the area towards which the lantern was now drifting, there was a flat, clear area of rock – and another winch with a frayed, broken rope lying beside it.

This, it was clear to Alcar, was the target.

“Can you get it down there?” asked Etienne, pointing excitedly.

“You’d better,” growled Ubund.

Alcar didn’t answer, for he was focusing all his attention on nudging the lantern closer to its destination. He felt sure that he could move it to the right place. The difficulty – he was rapidly realizing – would lie in securing it to the opposite end of the mechanism. Just looping the rope around wouldn’t be enough.

Worse – he could also see movement near some of the lower stalagmites. There was something down there. Perhaps more of the cave gremlins, as Ubund had suggested, or something even worse.

He narrowed his gaze, pressing two fingers to each temple and focusing his gaze. The lantern was wobbling about more chaotically now as he struggled to control it, but still it responded a little to his mental commands. It first struck the stone area below, then dragged across the ground with a noise that echoed throughout the huge cavern, and then bumped, lifted and finally thumped down again just behind the wooden post below. The light inside guttered, but then blazed up once more.

“Be careful, man,” said Etienne. “It won’t be good to us if the oil inside spills.”

“Doing my best,” snapped Alcar.

He gritted his teeth, knowing that the rope would need to somehow catch on the post if its weight was not to drag the lantern back over the edge of the stony platform. Narrowing his eyes, Alcar forced it to move forward again, coming back around the distant post. Then he moved it back around once again, lifting, landing, scraping on the ground.

Whatever it took.

By the time he stopped and staggered back, Alcar realized that he had been digging his fingernails hard into the palms of his hands. That had been a difficult task – much harder and more prolonged than any of the other enchantment he had attempted so far.

It might be good for experience, but it had hurt like hell. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, breathing hard and trying to compose himself, and then stepped forward to rejoin his companions.

The companions were all still looking down. Their destination was now lit up, the rope in place, and looped three times around the post. However, it wasn’t fully secured at the other end.

“We need to get at least one of us down there,” murmured Olynka.

Brutus whined.

“Yep,” said Etienne. “It’s a sturdy rope, and I think we can slide across the gap, each of us using a belt or something.”

“Better hope those cave gremlins don’t attack again,” murmured Leppie, looking around.

“Sure,” said Etienne. ”Quickly in and out. And once we are down there, we can secure it properly at the other end, so that we can use it to get back up again.”

“No,” said Olynka with a sharp shake of her head. “Nobody can slide down there yet. The rope needs to be tied properly at the other end. But how are we going to get one of us down there do do it?”

The all fell silent for a moment, and then Alcar looked down at Etienne, feeling again inside his pocket for his supply of razor root.

“Well,” he said slowly. “I haven’t tried the floating enchantment on a person before. But in principle – particularly on a smaller individual, I think it could be possible.”

The halfling’s eyes widened.